The present invention relates generally to an organizer system for attaching documents to binders or other file storage systems. More specifically, the present invention describes a positioning tool that allows for the attachment of strips that can be adhered to documents and have openings adapted to receive the fasteners in binders so that documents can be mounted in the binders without punching them.
Documents are often kept in binders such as ring binders, personal organizers, etc. Documents usually may be altered to fit into those binders by punching holes, or by placing other storage features along edge portions of the documents. However, for certain documents, such as illustrations, transparencies or important legal documents, it may not be desirable or aesthetic to punch holes or attach permanent storage features to the documents. Moreover, punching holes in a document causes permanent damage to the document and may remove information from the document. Punched documents are susceptible to tears around the holes. Reinforcing rings may reinforce damaged areas of documents around such holes, but application of such rings to every hole is time. consuming and may further cover information on the document.
Strips are known that can be adhered to documents and have openings adapted to receive the fasteners in binders so that documents can be mounted in the binders without punching them. U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,170 describes such a strip for which the "glue needs to be heated to secure page binder with spine section with a number of closely adjacent beads of hot melt glue". Other such strips are adhered by layers of pressure sensitive adhesive covered by liners that must be removed before the strips are used. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,248,164 describes a "binder with a stub edge, notable, for filing loose-leaf and intermediate sheets". This "binder" has "one or two vertical strips coated with a nonpermanent adhesive layer protected by a protective film". EP 0 266 454 B1 describes "a binder for connecting two sheet formed articles of paper or the like . . . [the] end portions being provided with an adhesive layer covered by sheet of release paper and application onto the respective article forming a strong adhesive bond therewith." Liner-free strips for attaching loose documents into a file folder or ting-binder are described in WO87/02941 (Cheng), in FR2 543 066, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,759 that describes "a system of counterfoil binding, fit in particular to classify documents in the form of loose sheets" and states that the strip "can be either transparent or opaque."
Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,683,194, which is hereby incorporated by reference, discloses a novel organizer strip. The strip comprises (1) an elongate layer of thin flexible material having opposite major side surfaces, opposite ends, inner and outer opposite elongate edges between its ends, an inner edge portion along its inner edge, and an outer edge portion along its outer edge; and (2) a coating of repositionable pressure sensitive adhesive on one major surface along the inner edge portion, with the layer being free of adhesive on both of its side surfaces along its outer edge portion. The outer edge portion of the strip is visually distinctive, and the juncture between the inner and outer portions is visibly distinctive. The strip has at least one and typically a plurality of spaced opening through the outer edge portion of the layer that are adapted to receive portions of binders. Thus, a document to which the coating of adhesive along the inner edge portion is adhered with the edge of the document along the juncture between the inner and outer portions can be bound in a binder without punching the document by attaching the outer portion to the binder.
Traditionally, a user manually attaches the described organizer strip onto a document. As with any other manual procedure, the accuracy and repeatability of the attachment depends on the skill of the user. When organizer strips are attached to multiple sheets, alignment and positional differences tend to occur. Misaligned pages affect the professional appearance of the stored documents.